Handle



Patented Ian. 3, I899. W. KLEIN.

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HANDLE.

(Application filed June 1, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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\VILLIAM KLEIN, OF TIIOMPSONVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,103, dated January 3, 1899 Application filed June 1, 1897. Serial No. 638,842. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern).-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM KLEIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Thompsonville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handles,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to those handles formed of strong sheet-metal bodies with ornamental soft-metal shells cast about the bodies which are designed and intended for application to caskets, coifins, and the like boxes and receptacles that have to be handled while containing heavy loads and that are used but once.

The object of the invention is to provide a handle of this nature having an ornamental and pleasing appearance, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and very strong in construction, so as to preclude the possibility of breaking under the strains to which it may be subjected when in use on a casket, coffin, or like box or receptacle.

The invention resides in a handle having hard-metal bases that are stamped and bent to shape and provided with soft-metal exterior shells, which are so cast about the bases as to form ornamental escutcheons, and hardmetal stamped plates provided with project ing holding-fingers, that are arranged to engage different surfaces of the bases, and softmetal exterior shells so cast about the plates as to form the ornamental arms which support the hand-bar, the bases and plates being so arranged and connected together that the benefit of the greatest possible strength of the metal employed is obtained when the handle is in use and subjected to lifting strains, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a face view of' a coffin-handle which embodies the invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section with the hand-bar down. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section with the hand-bar lifted. Fig. 4 shows a side and an edge view of an arm-plate, and Fig. 5 shows an edge and face view of a base.

The bases 1 are preferably stamped to shape from sheet-steel,with parts 2 having perforations 3, through which the screws for attaching the bases in place may be passed, and

with parts 4 having slots 5, through which the ends of the arm-plates project. The parts 4 of the bases are bent outwardly at an angle from the planes of the parts 2 and then where slotted are bent inwardly, the surfaces of the bent portions preferably extending substantially at right angles with each other. Over and about these hard-metal bases the shells 6 are cast of cheap soft metal which is capable of being given the shape and finish desired for the escutcheons.

The arm-plates 7 are preferably stamped to shape from sheet-steel,with loops 8 for receiving the hand-bar 9, with perforations 10 for the retaining-pivots 11, and with locking-fingers 12 and 13, that are adapted to engage with surfaces of the bases when the handle is in use. Over and about the hard-metal arm-plates the arm-shells 14: are cast, usually of the same soft metal that is used for the shells 6 of the bases.

The hand-bar 9, which is usually formed of a metal tube, is passed through the loops in the arm-plates and preferably secured in place by set-screws 15.

The bases are secured in position by passing screws through the perforations 3. The arms are connected with the bases by inserting the fingers 12 into the slots 5 and then passing the pivot pins 11 through perforations made in the soft-metal shells of the bases and through the perforations 10 in the plates, so that they lie inside of the angular bends in the parts 4 of the bases. The pivotpins merely retain the bases and the armplates together and are not required to sustain any more strain than the weight of the arms and the hand-bar when the handle isin use.

When the handle is opened for use, the under edges of the fingers l2 engage the inside walls of the bases adjacent to the lower ends of the slots 5, and then the inner edges of the fingers 13 engage the outer walls of the bases adjacent to the upper ends of the slots 5, as shown in Fig. 3. The engagement of these parts in this manner so locks the ends of the arm-plates with the bases that the pivot-pins are not required to bear any of the lifting strains. In fact, the handles will lift the weights required without any pivot-pins being used, if desired.

The handles do not open out as far as right angles with the side of the receptacle to which the bases are attached, so that the weight of the load tends to force the fingers 12 of the arm-plates outwardly and tends to force the fingers 13 inwardly; but these parts cannot move in these directions, for they are engaged by the walls of the bent portions of the base-plates. The upward-lifting strains on the hand-bar tend to thrust the ends of the arms upwardly and inwardly toward the walls of the receptacle to which the bases are attached, so as to lock the fingers and bent surfaces together. The arm-plates are arranged edgewise to the strains incident to lifting 0n the handle, and these plates are prevented from bending or springing sidewise by the stiffness of the soft metal and also by the walls of the slots 5 in the bases, so that all the lifting strains are sustained edgewise by the hard metal. The arms arranged in this manner are Very strong, and they are very securely connected with the bases. The arm-plates and bases can be easily stamped to shape from strong metal in an inexpensive manner, and they can be quickly assembled for use with the soft-metal shells on the exterior held in such manner that the soft metal will not crack or break off when the handles are subjected to the strains of use. The

bases can be attached securely to the walls of a casket, coffin, box, or kindred receptacle by simple means, and they can be covered with a soft-metal shell, so that escutcheons will result which are attractive and suitable for the use to which these handles are put. The soft-metal shells of the parts can be shaped and ornamented as desired, and tips of any design may be attached to the ends of the hand-bar, so that the resulting handle, while inexpensive, will be exceedingly strong and tasty.

I claim as my invention-' A handle consisting of hard metal, perforated and slotted bases, each of which has a part adapted to be secured to the wall of the receptacle to be lifted, a part bent so as to extend outwardly from and a part bent so as to extend inwardly toward the wall of the receptacle, with soft-metal shells cast over and about the bases, hard-metal arm-plates, each of which has a finger that projects through a slot in a base and is adapted to engage 0n the inside of the outwardly-extending part of a base and a finger that projects so as to be adapted to engage with the outside of the inwardly-extending part of a base, with softmetal shells cast over and about the armplates, pivot-pins extending through the armplates and inside of the bends of the bases for retaining the arms in position for use, and a hand'bar joining the arms, substantially as specified.

WILLIAM KLEIN.

Witnesses:

H. R. WILLIAMS, E. W. FOTHEBGILL. 

